Spartans Fall Short to Saint Leo

Tampa, FL. – The University of Tampa Spartans Men's Basketball came up short against their I-75 rival, Saint Leo!

Final: Saint Leo Lions 77, Tampa Spartans 72

Records: Tampa (7-14, 6-9 SSC), Saint Leo (18-8, 9-6 SSC)

Location: Bob Martinez Center || Tampa, Fl. 

All-Time Series: The Lions continued their 3-game winning streak against the Spartans and shrunk Tampa's all-time series dominance to 62-27.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

FIRST HALF 

The Spartans opened up the game with the first made basket thanks to a Tyson Leitao layup. The Lions responded with a 3-pointer to take the lead. Fortunately, Tampa makes two straight baskets to take a 3-point lead. After some back-and-forth lead changes, Mykah Brown and Jacob Harris hit back-to-back threes to extend Tampa's lead to five. Saint Leo stops Tampa's efficient offense by making four of its next five shots and keeping the Spartan's lead to five. After Brown makes a free throw, the Lions go on an 8-0 run in less than 2 minutes to take a 27-25 lead. The Lions try their best to pull away with back-to-back threes in a minute to put themselves up by 6. The Spartans responded with a 6-0 run to close the half and tie the score. | Score: 37-37 Tied

SECOND HALF 

The Lions come out of the break with a solid start going on a 6-0 run to open up the second half. Brown and Leitao tie it up with back-to-back threes to tie it at 43. Saint Leo goes on a massive 10-0 run within 2 minutes to create their most significant lead of the night. Tampa head coach – Richard Schmidt – has seen enough and calls a timeout with under 10 minutes to play. The Spartans follow their largest deficit of the night at 12 points with a 7-0 run to cut it to 5. After two made free throws from the Lions, Jesse White put his team on his back, scoring 8 points and hauling his team on a 12-3 run to take a 2-point lead with three minutes to play. The Lions continued to fight back, scoring five straight, which ultimately sealed the win for Saint Leo. || Score: 77-72 Lions 

INSIDE THE STATS 

• Three Spartans scored double figures: Senior Mykah Brown (26), Sophomore Tyson Leitao (21), and Sophomore Jesse White (13).
• Both teams made 27 shots from the field.
• Tyson Leitao received another double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

BEYOND THE BOX

• Jesse White scored all 13 points in the second half and shot 5-6 from the field, including 3-4 from behind the arc.
• Tampa had 12 turnovers compared to Saint Leo's 6.
• The Spartans had 16 bench points, while the Lions had 6.

UP NEXT: The Spartans will be back at the Bob this Saturday as they take on arch-rival the Florida Southern Mocs at 4 pm.

GAMEDAY MULTIMEDIA: Fans may watch all home games and Sunshine State Conference contests on TampaSpartans.tv. Live stats are also available through TampaStats.com. Follow UT Athletics: @TampaSpartans on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube. 

Text Alerts: UT also offers a free text messaging service that sends text alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com. 

Front Row: Download the official app of UT Athletics on the Apple or Android store. Look for the Tampa Spartans Front Row app to receive notifications from your favorite Spartan teams. The app is entirely free. 

GAMEDAY MULTIMEDIA: Fans may watch all home games and Sunshine State Conference contests on TampaSpartans.tv. Live stats are also available through TampaStats.com. 

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA:  Follow @TampaSpartans on all socials for up-to-date information on the University of Tampa Athletics. Please give us a follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and use our official hashtag, StandAsOne. 

TEXT ALERTS: UT also offers a free text messaging service that sends alerts following all Spartan events. To sign up, please register at www.tampaspartans.com. 

GET YOUR UT GEAR: Purchase your official University of Tampa merchandise through our online store, TampaSpartans.store.